Review of Privilege (1967) by Andrew U — 14 Aug 2008

It's just ok. I think I was expecting a bit much. A campy political spoof that anticipates the power of megachurches, christian rock, etc. The story is ostensibly about the nSync phenomenon, where a totally prepackaged star has the country in the palm of his hand. The guy's an empty vessel, the audience is an empty vessel, everyone's empty - and fascist nationalism and the church can come rushing back in! But really it's the film that's empty. The politics is typical late 60s polemic, and I must say, somewhat typical of a particularly British style of ham-handed political filmmaking in that regard. Look at the hillariously skewed gender dynamics: though the star is supposedly worshiped by everyone, all we ever see are scores of screaming, hysterically sobbing women. The one woman in the story who has something barely akin to a personality is, of course, a preening supermodel in the stereotypical mode (even though she's supposed to be a painter.) Watkins is supposedly trying to reach out to a receptive audience, but this film treats that audience like the servile idiots he depicts in the film. The conclusion is particularly disappointing - the star's final speech is the kind of thing that would probably just be papered over within the media environment he describes, whereas the film has it effectively upending the whole system. Perhaps that was the idealistic vision - that one person, given 5 minutes with microphone and millions of viewers, could suddenly transform the nation.

The one worthy thing about the film is the Christian-Nationalist Rally, which is wonderfully shot, with great sets, and hillarious scenes of people falling out of wheelchairs with their illnesses cured by the Pat Robertson "Lay your hands on the Television Screen" antics of the pop singer-cum-jesus. Fast forward to that (2/3 through) and skip the rest. Oh, and the band's jittery punk/ anarchist musical director (the photo at right) is great too.